Can you help my son?

Hi, my name is Amanda and I'm fundraising for my 19 year old son, George.

I am raising money to correct his ongoing struggle with gynecomastia, made worse by severe obesity.

I have watched my son grow up struggling with mental health conditions, that lead to severe eating disorders. Homophobic bullying lead to comfort eating, which caused him to develop binge eating disorder. This started from the young age of 11.

As time passed, and he went through more academic years, the condition worsened. Watching him struggle through his childhood, has broken my heart. I have felt completely helpless.

Over the years, I have done my best to help him develop a healthier relationship with food. Desperate times, caused for desperate measures. I enrolled us into Slimming World, which worsened his eating disorder, and warped his view on food again. He used to cry to me regularly, saying "Why can't I be normal, like everyone else?" I felt completely helpless.

I turned to the doctors for help, and he was met with, "Go and jump on the trampoline," or "Go swimming regularly." He couldn't go swimming. Swimming was his worst nightmare. His gynecomastia, and body confidence issues held him back from enjoying such leisurely activities. He still can't, to this day. His body confidence issues, and gynecomastia limits him.

The gynecomastia has even lead to people questioning what sex he identified as.

All this trauma has broken him, and ruined his childhood.

Last August, he was 27 stone, and I thought he was going to die. I feared he would die in his sleep. I lost sleep myself, worrying about him. He was desperate to go abroad to have a gastric sleeve. But I forbid him due to the high risk.

September rolled around, and he came to me and said, "I'm going to be healthy for my 20th birthday. Could I have a fitbit as my present?" At long last, I truly believed he was serious about helping himself after all these years, but I was a little skeptical that he would follow it through. His drive was strong, and this time, he meant it. For the first time in forever, I was truly hopeful.

Through guidance and support from myself and my daughter, he learnt how to sensiblely calorie count, and kept in a calorie deficit the next year. With this, he lost an incredible 14 stone independently. I am so proud of him. Watching him gain the confidence he had as a young child back, was joyous. To see the difference in him, physically and mentally, is all I've wanted for him as a mother.

He is now a perfect BMI according to the NHS. But, he has been left with an excess of loose skin, and the gynecomastia hasn't improved, despite the GP predicting it would. I'm watching him slowly lose that confidence again, as he can barely look at the battle scars on his body. The NHS will not offer the surgery, as it is classed as cosmetic. But the loose skin, and gynecomastia is restricting his mental recovery. He still sees himself as "ugly", and still cannot live the life he has worked hard for.

He desperately needs this surgery, so he can fulfil a non restricted life. The gynecomastia & tummy tuck surgery is all he talks about, and I'm once again desperate as a mother to help him.

The surgeries he needs has been quoted at around £16000. I believe it's unfair that he is wasting his youth, working endlessly to save up for an operation that is essential for his recovery. He's still many years away from saving the total amount needed.

With that, I am reaching out for help for my son. So he can reach the funds he needs, for the operations that he truly deserves.

Can you help me, help my son, please? ❤️